San Francisco Chronicle columnist John King has a smart piece on the "generation gap" between old-school environmentalists suspicious of urban development and younger greens who see density as essential.

In Japan, the trend toward tiny homes is driven by harsh economic reality more than any desire to live "sustainably." It's a good example of how people can adapt to a world of diminishing resources -- the same world we all live in.

Folks, if you live in a sprawling, autocentric community that requires you to drive your kids to the supermarket to buy their organic produce and to the local playfield to get their exercise, you're not doing them -- or the planet -- any favors.

"Every human being responds to a connection with nature," says Lynden Miller, who has designed many of New York's most successful public gardens. "People of all kinds love something beautiful and will talk to each other when they see it. They change the way they behave. It changes the way they feel about themselves and each other."